Mexican Green Goddess Pasta Salad (Vegan Option) | Progressive Eats

When I found out that this month’s Progressive Eats theme was Herbs, I immediately thought of Green Goddess dressing. And then I thought some more and came up with a dish I’m calling Mexican Green Goddess Pasta Salad. Once I came up with the name, I had to figure out how to make it, and figure it out I did. It is most delicious–herbaceous, tangy, crunchy, creamy, a little spicy, and easily veganized as well. I’ll tell you how I made it at the end of the post, but first, let’s take a look at what our intrepid Progressive Eats band of bloggers got up to this month.

Progressive Eats

Welcome to Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a Progressive Dinner Party. Our menu this month features all dishes that include our favorite herbs! We’ve got a great mix from a cocktail to desserts; all recipes showing just how versatile these garden favorites can be! Hosting this month is Laura from Mother Would Know.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats, a theme is chosen each month, members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party, and you can hop from blog to blog to check them out.

Dessert

It all sounds pretty great, right? We have an enormous rosemary bush growing outside in our garden, so I’m all over the lemon rosemary combinations, and as a cilantro fan, I say hooray for chimichurri sauce and cilantro vinaigrette!

Mexican Green Goddess Pasta Salad

Once I’d landed on what sounded like a good idea to me, I went forth onto the Internet to see a)how to make traditional Green Goddess dressing, and b)to see if folks had made a Mexican version. Of course they had. The third item I wanted to check on was if anyone had a vegan version of Green Goddess dressing. And yes, that’s out there, too.

I also remember making the supremely delicious Avocado Tomatillo Taco Truck Sauce from my friend Sandra Gutierrez’s wonderful book (affiliate link) Latin American Street Food, so I decided to add some tomatillo into the mix as a nod to Sandra.

You could absolutely use the resulting dressing on a green salad, but wow is it great with the pasta. Customize your add ins as you like, and if you’re not vegan, add cheese and/or meat to make this a main course pasta salad, but do make this. I am here to tell you that Mexican Green Goddess Pasta Salad needs to happen at your house at your earliest possible convenience. I think you are really going to love it.

5 from 1 vote

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Mexican Green Goddess Pasta Salad

Prep Time

15mins

Cook Time

8mins

Total Time

23mins

The Mexican Green Goddess Pasta Salad is full of fresh, bright flavors with just enough spice to keep things interesting. And it's vegan too.

Course:
Side Dish

Servings: 8servings

Author: Jennifer Field

What You'll Need

For the Dressing

5 mediumtomatillospeeled of their husks, chopped, and quartered

juice of two large, juicy limes

1/2mediumwhite onionroughly chopped

1large handfulcilantroabout a packed cup

1handfulflat leaf parsleyabout 1/2 cup

2teaspoonsfish sauce* (omit for vegan)

2 cloves garlicsmashed

1/2 teaspooncumin

salt and pepper, to taste

1ripe Haas avocadocut in chunks

For the Salad

1poundpastayour favorite short shape

1 1/2cupscooked and rinsed black beansfresh or canned

1 1/2 cupssweet cornfresh or canned

3/4cup diced red onion

3/4cupchopped roasted red peppersfresh or canned

1/2 cupchopped green chilesroasted fresh or canned

1cupvegan mayonnaise

hot sauce, to taste (preferably a green sauce)optional

What To Do

To Make the Dressing

Place all ingredients except the avocado, salt and pepper in the jar of your high speed blender (or regular blender).

Puree until smooth

Add the avocado and puree until smooth.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To Make the Salad

Cook the pasta in salted water until just shy of done.

While the pasta is cooking, put the black beans, corn, red onion, red pepper, and green chiles in a large bowl.

Mix in the vegan mayonnaise.

When the pasta is done, drain and rinse in cold water until it is warm and not hot.

Put the pasta in on top of the rest of the salad ingredients and pour the Green Goddess dressing over all.

Stir together, taste and season with salt, pepper, and some hot sauce if you like. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours to let the flavors blend, and enjoy.

Recipe Notes

*I know fish sauce sounds like a weird entry here, but traditional Green Goddess dressing, like Caesar dressing, contains anchovy. I always have fish sauce on hand, and it makes a good substitute. Your salad will not be fishy at all, but if you're not vegan, give it a try. Good fish sauce makes almost anything savory you add it to lip-smackingly delicious.

And that’s our Progressive Eats feast for this month, friends. I hope you enjoy all the recipes as well as this wonderful pasta salad.

Thanks for spending some time with me today. Take care, and have a lovely day.

Hi, friends! I'm Jenni, and I used to be a kitchen novice who knew next to nothing about cooking and baking and was afraid to stray from recipes. Over the years, I've learned a lot about how ingredients work, how to combine them to achieve the results I'm looking for (whether in cooking or baking), and how to generalize cooking techniques across recipes. I'm here to teach you everything I've learned to help you be fearless in your kitchen.

If you're new to Pastry Chef Online, this page is a great place to start to get the lay of the land!

Like the other commenters, when I see Green Goddess, I’m immediately transported back to my adolescence. I didn’t pour the Green Goddess of my youth on Mexican-style pasta nor did it have fish sauce as an ingredient. Still, I’m smiling at the thought of it as I read your updated recipe. Love this version.

The name really does take you back, doesn’t it?! And this version is so bright and delicious! Would be equally as good in potato salad or even as a dressing for chicken salad. I’m a big fan, and I’ll be making this again for sure! What a great theme, Laura. Thanks again for hosting! xo

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Welcome! I'm Jenni, and I want to help you find your fearlessness in the kitchen so you can cook and bake with confidence. It took me years to find my kitchen cool, and I'm sharing my best tips and tricks so you can go from fearful to fearless in no time! Read more about me here.

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About Me!

For years, I was a fearful cook and baker--like sweaty-neck fearful.

After years of reading cookbooks, watching cooking and baking shows, and experimenting in the kitchen, I left a 16-year special education career to attend culinary school. I landed in a wonderful fine dining restaurant in Winter Park, Florida, where everyone was fearless, playing with their food on a daily basis. It was always, "I wonder what would happen if we..." and then we'd try it and find out. By the time chef handed me a 6th pan of horseradish broth and asked me to turn it into a sorbet for an appetizer, I knew my fearful days were totally behind me!

I started this site to help people overcome kitchen anxiety and paralysis through teaching basic pastry methods and techniques necessary to be able to bake and cook with confidence. Over the years, I have added hundreds of recipes to complement my technique posts. Please use this site as the resource I have built it to be, and feel free to contact me anytime. I'm happy to help you on your journey to being fearless in the kitchen!

If you're new to Pastry Chef Online, this page is a great place to start to get the lay of the land!